Internal-combustion engine.



M. L. WILLIAMS.-

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED D20. 20, 1909.

Patented May 28, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

M'. L. WILLIAMS. INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

v H I APPLICATION FILED D'EO 20/1909. 1,0275680. Patented May 28,1912.

SHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CD W'ASHINdTON, u. c.

i To all whom it may concern a D T ATES P AIEN T OFFIC i MARTIN L. WILLIAMS, or sourrr BEND, INDIANA.

' IN TERNAL-COMBTJ'STION ENGINE.

Be it known that LManrlN L. WILLIAMS,

va resident of South Bend, in the county of- St. Joseph and State of Indiana,- have invented certain new and useful Improve- .j

men'ts in Internal-Combust-ion Engines, of

' i which the following is a full, clear, and pre- 1 cise specification.

My. invention relatesto internal combustion engines, particularly -to; lmproved;

multi-cylinder two-cycle englnes.

.In prior engines'of this class aCOI'HPIBS-I s on cyllnder is assoclated wlth each main? cylinder to supply the .main cylinder with explosive gas, such arrangement necessitata ingmore or less valve mechanism. In these 2 prior art enginesa crankcase is also pro-, vided and used as a reservoir or passageway for fluid flow from one cylinder to another.

Amongthe salient objects of my inven-.

' lngs. 1

tion, are to provide a construction in which the main cylinders are arranged in sets of: two, one cylinder of each set being provided j with auxiliary cylinder andv piston mecha- 1 nism for in common supplying both cylinders of each set with explosive gas; to pro'-. vide a simplified and very efficient construction and arrangement of such auxiliary cyl-,

inder and piston mechanism that the weight and size of thecylinder. part of the engine will be reduced to a minimum; more inde-' tail to provide a construction in which the auxiliary cylinder of each set-is arranged concentrically with the main cylinder of the} set, the auxiliary piston forming an ,exten-; sion on the main pistonfor said cylinder": and; the auxiliary piston part dividing the; auxiliary cylinder into upper, and lower: compression compartments in which are compressed supplies of gas, the supply from one compartment being for the one cylinder.

of the set and the supply from the other compartment being for the other cylinder of the set; to provide an arrangement which will eliminate all movable valve, mechanisml and which involves onlyports controlled by the pistons and the auxiliary piston of each set; to provide a construction and arrangement which .will cause the; gas supplies to be first put under compression and then practically instantaneously charged into the cylindersin the proper sequence; to provide mechanical construction which will enable the main cylinders and the greater part of the auxiliary cylinders to be cast in one piece; and to provide an arrangement of the Specification of Letters Patent.

furthermore leaving one end of the cylinder entirely open to the external air to greatly,

facilitate cooling. The. engine of my improved construction can, therefore,'be made very light and small yet with great power and efiiciency, making it particularly adaptable -in the air-ship field where these element-s are essential. The cylindrical, concentric arrangement of the various cylinder parts of my engine greatly, reduces the labor and cost of machining, thus'greatly reducing the cost of manufacture. V

The various features, construction. and arrangement of my improved .engine are clearly described in the following specification and shown on the accompanying draw- Patented May 28,1912. Application filed December 20, 1909. S'er'ialNo. 534,154.

In these drawings Figure: l is a plan View of the engine, Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on'plan'e 22, Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a sectional view offlthe lower end of adjacent auxiliary cylinders showing the position of k the gas intake ports, Fig. t is a sectional view taken on plane 4- 1 Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 is a sectional View taken-on plane 5-5, Fig. 2. Y

The engine comprises driving sections A, B, O, and D. The section A comprises'a cylinder part 1 closed at its upper end by a head 2 and open at its lower end, a hollow piston 73 being adapted forreciprocation in the cylinder.

Supported diametrically" within the piston is a shaft 4 pivoting"'the head of a connecting rod 5 whose outer end,

pivots to the crank section 6 of the crank shaft 7. The section I) has a'construction exactly similar to that of section A and come prises cylinder 1 having the heacl 2, piston 3, shaft 4 and connecting rod 5,'the connecting rod engaging crank section 6 on the crankshaft, which. section is displaced ninety degrees from the crank section 6. Section B comprises the cylinder 8 closed at its top by the head 9 and accommodating a hollowpiston 10 whose lower end 11 forms the inner wall of a hollow annular auxiliary piston 12'. From the lower edge of the wall of cylinder 8 extends the annular fiange-18 forming the top wall of an annular auxiliary cylinder compartment 14: in which the auxiliary annular piston 12 reciprocateathe outer wall of this annular compartment be;

ing provided by the cylindrical shell 15 depending from the outer -edge of the flange 13. The inner wall of the annular cylinder is formed partly by the cylindrical shell 16 extending upwardly into the hollow piston 10 and partly by the intermediate section 17 of the main piston. The lower wall of the annular cylinder is formed by the flange 18 extending from the lower end of the part 16 into engagement with the lower end of the cylindrical outer shell 15; lVithin the piston 10 is carried the shaft 19 pivoting the head of the COIlliQCtillg rod 20 which at its outer end pivots to the crank section 21 displaced one hundred eighty degrees from the section 6 and ninety degrees from the crank section 6.

The driving section C is exactly similar to the section B and comprises the same parts whose reference characters are primed, the connecting rod 20 pivoting to crank section 21 displaced ninety degrees from crank section 21 and one hundred eighty degrees from crank section 6. I preferably cast in a single piece 22 the main cylinders and the outer walls of the auxiliary cylinders, the auxiliary cylinder walls of the sections B and C merging at their inner parts and at their outer parts merging with the cylinders of sections A and D, as shown. The shells 16 and 16 are preferably cast integral with their flanges 18 and 18, as shown. All the cylinder parts are, therefore, cylindrical and concentrically arranged so that the cost of machining is reduced to a minimum. The crank shaft 7 is journaled in bearing extensions 23 secured at suitable intervals to the main casting 22. Each cylinder is provided with a spark plug P. secured to the head to project its spark terminals 7; into the main cylinder. The upper end of each piston has a central inlet opening 2 1 communicating with radial ports 25 extending through and terminating at the periphery of the piston just within the upper end of the piston. In the wall of each cylinder there is also provided an annular port 26 having radial branches 27 communicating with the cylinder compartment in a horizontal plane, these annular ports each communicating with a common exhaust pipe 28.

The port outlets of each cylinder are in a horizontal plane to be closed by the piston during the greater part of its movement and to be exposed just before the piston reaches the lower end of its movement to be again closed when the piston begins its upward movement. In Fig. 2 these port outlets are closed by the pistons in sections A, B and D and are exposed in the section G. Just below the plane of the exhaust outlets 27 the cylinder walls of the sections A and D have annular inlet ports 29 having radial branches 3O communicating with the cylinder compartment, the outlets being in a plane to register with the radial ports 25 communieating with the central piston opening 2% when the piston is in its lowermost position. The annular passageway 29 of the section A communicates with passageway 31 which leads into the upper compartment 14; of the annular auxiliary cylinder 14, and the annular passageway 29 of section D communicates with a similar passageway 31 which leads into the upper compartment 14! of the auxiliary cylinder 14" of section C.

As best shown in Figs. 1 and 4t, the outer wall of the auxiliary cylinder of section B is provided with enlargements 32 having internal passageways 33 which extend radially over the top wall 13 to communicate with the radial ports 25 leading to central opening 24 of the piston of section B when the piston is in its lowermost position. The passageways 33 communicate with the lower end of the lower compartment IA of the auxiliary cylinder 14. Likewise enlargements 32 on the outer wall of cylinder 14: of section C provide passageways 33 for connecting the lower end of the compartment 1 1" with the central opening 2 1 of the corresponding piston when said piston is in its lowermost position, as shown.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 3, a flanged lug extends from the main frame 22 to be connected with a source of gas supply and having the branch passageways 35 and 35 terminating in the auxiliary cylinders .14: and 14C in a middle plane thereof, the auxiliar pistons being of such height as to expose the respective gas inlets when the auxiliary pistons reach the upper and lower ends of their reciprocations.

The operation of the engine can now be readily understood. As shown in Fig. 2, the pistons of sections A and B are at half stroke, the piston of section C is at the lower end of its stroke, and the piston of section D is at the upper end of its stroke. In section B the auxiliary piston is moving downwardly to compress a supply of gas in lower section 14 of the auxiliary cylinder, which supply was drawn in during the last up stroke of the piston, and the piston is drawing vacuum in the upper compartment 1 1 which is dis-connected from cylinder 1 as piston 3 is in a position to close the passageway 31. Piston 1O closes the outlet to cylinder 8 from passageways 33, and the compressed gas in compartment lt will not enter cylinder 8 until the piston reaches the lower part of its stroke to bring ports 25 into register with the passageways 33, as illustrated in section C. As soon as these ports register the compressed gas will flow outwardly through central opening 24, and being under heavy compression, will flow in a solid stream centrally through the cylinder against the top thereof. When the piston is down the exhaust openings 19 of cylinder 10 will also be exposed, and the exhaust gas will flow down alongthe sides of the cylinder and out through the exhaust ports and to exhaust pipe 28. Gas charge to cylinder 9, therefore, takes place substantially instantaneously. When the piston reaches the lower end of its stroke the top of the auxiliary piston will have cleared gas inlet for the upper compartment 14?, and a charge of gas will be almost instantaneously. sucked into compartment 14* by the vacuum effect created therein by the descent of the auxiliary piston.

When the piston 10 begins its up stroke intake ports 33 are closed by the piston and the gas previously charged in cylinder 8 is put under compression until the piston reaches the end of its up stroke. WVhen piston 10 traveled downwardly piston 3 trav eled up and compressed in its cylinder a previous charge of gas which was exploded toforce the piston 3 downwardly, and the piston will reach the lower end of itsstroke when piston 10 reaches the upper end of its stroke, and at this time the. intake ports 25 of piston 3 will register with the ports 27 so that the compressed supply of gas in com partment 14* of the auxiliary cylinder will be forced instantaneously into cylinder 2 through the central opening of piston 3,

, the exhaust gases flowing at the same time y from said cylinder through the exhaust ports into the exhaust pipe, whereupon piston 3 will again move upwardly to compress the received charge. When piston 10 reached the upper end of its stroke the auxiliary piston had exposed the gas inlet 35 to lower compartment 149, and thelvacuum efl'ect created in this lower compartment upon the upstroke of the auxiliary piston drew in a supply of gas. Now when piston 10 again moves downwardly after explosion of the charged gas in cylinder 8 the gas supply in the lower compartment will be compressed and vacuum will again'be drawn in the upper compartment 14*, the compressed supply in the lower compartment being forced into the cylinder 8 when piston 10 again reaches the lower end of its stroke, and the various cycles traced are repeated. Thus a single auxiliary mechanism associated with section B serves to control the charging for both cylinders of the set, the upper auxiliary compartment receiving and compressing the charge for cylinder 1 and the lower auxiliary compartment receiving and compressing the charge for cylinder 8. Sections C and D cooperate in the same manner as sections A and B, one auxiliary cylinder mecha- 111SI11 sufliclng for the two main cylinders of the set, the upper auxiliary compartment receiving and compressing the charges for cylinder 1, and the lower auxiliary compartment receiving and compressing the charges formain cylinder 8.. Two auxiliary cylinder mechanisms, therefore, control the charging for fourmain cylinders, whereas in prior engines it required one auxiliary cylinder mechanism for each main cylinder. The unique way of encircling the two inner main cylinders by the auxiliary cylinders reand main cylinders more or less complicated cross connecting members are eliminated which would be necessary were the auxiliary cylinders independent ofthe main cylinders. As a result'of my arrangement, therefore, there will be no movable parts except the piston frames, and a very compact, small and light, yet powerful and efficient engine results which is particularly adaptable for application in the air-ship field or in other fields where theabove features are requisites.

The cost of production is alsovery much reduced owing to the small number of castings and owing to the cylindricaland concentric arrangement of the parts, which enables machining and finishing to be easily and quickly obtained. The central intake inlet in the piston heads will cause the'intaken gas to be directed in a solid axial stream to the top of the cylinder to in no wise interfere with the exhaust gases escaping fromthe bottom of the cylinder at the sides there- I of, the intaken gas, in fact, assisting in driving out the exhaust gases.

As in my construction it is not necessary to utilize the crank case as a storage chamber or passageway for.inter-communicating gases, the crank case can be entirely omitted and only skeleton supporting frames provided on the main frame for journaling the l crank shaft. This enables me to leave the interior of the cylinders entirely exposed to the atmosphere, which j greatly assists in keeping the engine 0001 and clean. The engine nowhere has heavy metallic parts, all the parts being in the form ofthin walls having large external radiating areas. The result is'that special cooling means such as water jackets can in most cases be dispensed with, this also enabling the engine to have much less weight and size than prior en gines. The very small number of parts also reduces lost motion and noise to. a minimum." The engine is at all times properly cushioned and balanced and will run smoothly. The flow of gases from one part to another of the engine is not sluggish, but flow from one part to the other takes place practically instantaneously. Each cylinder operates on the two cycle principle, there being one explosion for each complete reciprocation of the piston. Any number of cylinder sets can be provided to build up a multiple cylinder engine of any capacity, one cylinder for each set controlling in common the intake for both cylinders.

Changes could, of course be made in the detail construction and arrangement without departing from the scope of my invention, and I do not therefore, wish to be limited to the disclosures herein, but

I desire to secure the following claims by Letters Patent:

1. In a gas engine, the combination of two main cylinders, a piston for each cylinder, an auxiliary'cylinder concentric with one of said main cylinders, an inlet to the auxil iary cylinder for gas, connections between said auxiliary cylinder and the main cylinders, and a piston for said auxiliary cylinder carried by the piston of the corresponding main cylinder and operable in the auxiliary cylinder to control the charging of gas from the auxiliary cylinder to both main cylinders.

2. I11 a gas engine, the combination of two main cylinders each provided with a piston, an annular auxiliary cylinder concentric with one of said main cylinders, an annular piston for said auxiliary cylinder forming part of the corresponding main cylinder piston, an inlet to said auxiliary cylinder for gas, and connections between said auxiliary cylinder and the main cylinders, said aux iliary cylinder and piston cooperating to alternately charge gas from the auxiliary cylinder to the main cylinders.

3. In a gas engine, the combination of two main cylinders each having a piston, an outer wall concentric with one of said main cylinders, an inner stationary wall, said outer wall forming the outer boundary of an auxiliary annular cylinder and said stationary inner frame forming part of the inner boundary of said auxiliary cylinder, the main piston of the corresponding main cylinder forming the remaining part of the inner boundary of said auxiliary cylinder, a wall extending between said main cylinders and the outer wall to form the upper boundary of said auxiliary cylinder, a wall ex tending from said inner stationary frame to said outer wall to form the lower boundary of said auxiliary cylinder, an auxiliary piston formed at the lower end of said main piston and adapted to reciprocate therewith and in said auxiliarycylinder, an inlet to said auxiliary cylinder for gas, and connections between said auxiliary cylinder and the main cylinders, said auxiliary piston cooperating with the auxiliary cylinder upon reciprocation ofthe corresponding main piston to in common control the charging of gas from the auxiliary cylinder to the main cylinders.

l. In a gas engine, the combination of a cylinder frame having an inner section of one diameter and an outer section of greater diameter, a piston for reciprocating in said inner section, an annular flange extending downwardly from the piston, an annular wall extending inwardly a distance from the outlet of said outer section and connected at its outer end with said outer section, said annular .wall also extending into the piston flange, said outer cylinder section, said annular wall and said piston forming an annular auxiliary cylinder compartment, the outer end of said piston flange expanding to form a piston for said auxiliary cylinder compartment, an inlet to said auxiliary cylinder compartment for gas, and connections between said auxiliary cylinder compartment and the compartment within the inner cylinder section, said auxiliary cylinder compartment traveling with said main piston to control the charging of gasfrom said auxiliary cylinder compartment to the inner cylinder section compartment.

5. In a gas engine, the combination of a main cylinder and a piston therefor, an auxiliary cylinder and piston therefor, said main cylinder piston having an axial port and a passageway extending from said port and terminating at the periphery of said main cylinder, a passageway leading from said auxiliary cylinder and terminating at the inner surface of the main cylinder to be in register with the passageway leading from the axial port in the main piston when the main piston is in its out position whereby said axial inlet port will be out of connection with said auxiliary cylinder until said main piston reaches its out position, said auxiliary cylinder having a gas intake port positioned to be cleared by the auxiliary piston to feed gas into said auxiliary cylinder when the a uxiliary piston is in its inner position, said pistons moving outwardly simultaneously whereby the fed-in gas compressed in the auxiliary cylinder by the outwardly moving auxiliary piston will be compressed and discharged into the main cylinder under heavy pressure when the main piston reaches its outer position, and exhaust outlet from said main cylinder positioned to be opened when the main piston reaches its out position, the charged gas flowing into the main cylinder in an axial column, the exhaust gases flowing along the sides of the main cylinder and through the exhaust outlet.

6. In a gas engine, the combination of a main cylinder and an auxiliary cylinder concentric therewith, an integral piston structure forming a piston for the main cylinder and a piston for the auxiliary cylinder, a gas inlet for the auxiliary cylinder positioned to be open to supply gas to the auxiliary cylinder when the auxiliary piston is in its innermost position and to be closed while the auxiliary piston is moving toward its outermost position, saidmain piston having an axial port and a lateral passageway terminating at the periphery of the main piston, a passageway leading from the auxiliary piston and terminating at the inner surface of the main cylinder to be in register with the lateral passageway of the main piston when the piston structure is in its out position and to be closed to the main cylinder until the piston structure reaches the out position whereby the gas fed to the auxiliary cylinder and compressed therein by the outwardly moving auxiliary piston -.will be charged under heavy pressure into the main cylinder when the main piston reaches the out position, and exhaust outlet from the main cylinder in position to be opened only when the main piston reaches the out position, the charged in gas flowing in an axial column through the main cylinder, and the exhaust gases flowing along the sidesof the main cylinder and through the exhaust outlet.

7 In a gas engine, the combination of one cylinder having a piston, a second cylinder having a piston, a gas inlet to the second cylinder positioned to be open when the piston for said second cylinder reaches one end of its stroke and to be closed whilesaid piston travels to the other end of its stroke, said piston for the first mentioned cylinder having an inlet passageway, there being a passageway from said second mentioned cylinder and terminating at said first mentioned cylinder to register with the passageway of the piston of said first mentioned cylinder when said piston is in its out position, the gas received in said second mentioned cylinder when the piston for said cylinder is at one end of its stroke being compressed by said piston when moving toward the other end of its stroke and fed under heavy pressure into the first mentioned cylinder when the piston for said first mentioned cylinder is in its out position,and said piston for the second, mentioned cylinder creating a vacuum in said second mentioned cylinder upon return of its piston so that when the gas inlet port is again cleared said second mentioned cylinder will receive a substantially instantaneous charge of gas, and exhaust outlet from said first mentioned cylinder to open simultaneously with the connect-ion of said cylinder with the second mentioned cylinder.

' 8. In a gas engine, the combination of two main cylinders each having a piston, an

auxiliary cylinder having a piston and divided bysaid piston into upper and lower compartments, one of said main cylinders being connected with said upper compartment and the other main cylinder being connected with the lower compartment, valve mechanisms controlling said connections, and a common gas inlet for said auxiliary cylinder closed during the greater part of its reciprocation and open only when the auxiliary piston reaches the end of its strokes, the moving auxiliary piston thereby creating vacuum in one compartment andcompression in the other compartment, and the vacuum compartment being instantly filled with fresh gas when the auxiliary piston reaches the end of a stroke.

In witness hereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 17th day of December, A. D., 1909.

MARTIN L. WILLIAMS.

Witnesses:

ALBERT H. CUSHING, EDNA WOLF.

' Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

